Summary
In the sixth chapter, Wart and Kay travel into the woods while hunting. They kill a rabbit and notice a crow. They then stumble upon a witch's cottage with her name written on the front: Madame Mim. She traps them and they struggle to escape. A goat attempts to assist them but it proves to be in vain, as the crow is watching them. The witch plans to eat them and as she is dangling Wart from his leg, Merlyn suddenly appears.
Mim and Merlyn square off in a duel in which they transform into various animals and objects. She becomes a dragon and he becomes a mouse. They both become cats and dogs. She becomes a tree and he becomes a bird. This goes on, with Merlyn becoming an elephant and then a bed of nettles while Mim becomes an aullay, a monster with an elephant's trunk and horse's body. Things appear hopeless for Merlyn until, at the last second, he becomes a microbe of disease, infecting Mim and winning the duel. Merlyn and the boys escape, victorious over the witch.
On another day, Kay and Wart practice jousting together. Wart tells Merlyn that he is upset that he will never be a knight, only Kay's squire, as he was born without a "proper" father. He then goes into detail describing the suit of armor he would have if was given the chance to be a knight. Then, they all watch King Pellinore joust Grummore. Initially civil, the match devolves into name-calling and brawling when Grummore appears to have scored a victory over Pellinore. Despite this unappealing display, Grummore and Pellinore patch things up and end up becoming friendly.
Following this, on a particularly dreary evening, Wart becomes bored with his lessons and expresses a desire to become a hawk. Merlyn grants his wish and he meets up with a group of hawks. He becomes intimidated by their intensity and rigid nobility. They question him about his origins and stature. He also encounters Kay's hawk, Cully, who proves to be harsh and suspicious of him. Eventually they demand that he make some sort of show of his bravery. He manages, under great duress, to do so and wins their respect.
In the ninth chapter, Kay has a disagreement with Wart and expresses jealousy about his magical adventures with Merlyn. Merlyn tells Wart the story of a rabbi traveling with the prophet. The two of them stay in the house of a poor man and are given generous accommodations. In the morning, the man's cow dies. Then they stay in the house of a rich merchant, who offers them bare lodging and hospitality. Elijah sends a mason to repair the man's wall.
The rabbi is upset about the disparity, but Elijah says that the rich man's broken wall had treasure that he will never find, and the poor man's wife was to be taken instead of the cow, so that in fact they were repaid in kind for their actions, even if it does not initially appear this way. Wart still takes issue with the narrative, but understands what Merlyn means about outer appearances of fortune. Finally, Merlyn instructs Wart to seek out an adventure for both himself and Kay. Wart tries to do so, in order to balance out their relationship.
Wart and Kay walk through the woods together. They meet a large man named Little John, who is a friend of Robin Hood and part of his band of "Merry Men." Little John then introduces them to Robin Hood and his lover Marian. They then learn that their friends from the castle, Cavall, Dog Boy, Friar Tuck, and Wat have been captured. They realize they must enter into a quest to find them.
Analysis
This section deals a lot with cunning and cleverness. In his duel with Madame Mim, Merlyn is revealed to be strong but not invincible, as he narrowly avoids defeat. His final move, transforming into a disease, shows how a smart move can outdo brute force, as the witch chooses something large and powerful but is brought down by something very small. Merlyn is constantly talking about the virtues of education with Wart, and in this moment he manages to demonstrate the value of being able to outsmart an opponent as opposed to defeating them with strength alone.
The parable that Merlyn relates to the boys speaks to their stories on a few different thematic levels. On its surface, it seems to be a justification of why things may not always appear fair, but can conceal better outcomes than may be immediately apparent. This appears to be an explanation of why Kay cannot be included in Wart's magical adventures. But what Merlyn really seems to mean by this is that, like Elijah, he himself is working in a mysterious manner and that his withholding of magic from Kay is part of his larger mission to prepare Wart to be king, something he cannot reveal to him just yet.
In the jousting scene, the traditional ideals of chivalry appear to be upended and mocked. Pellinore and Grummore tilt against one another until it appears that Grummore will be the victor. The scene then devolves into a petty squabble which everyone finds it very unbecoming for the two knights to engage in. They call each other names and generally act in an unbecoming manner, with Grummore chasing Pellinore in a ridiculous way. What they show in this moment is that knights, contrary to popular conception, are perfectly capable of being pathetic and undignified in their actions. This goes against traditional portrayals of knights and tourneys, in which they often comport themselves according to scrupulous moral codes and only engage in very proper styles of combat and competition.
Likewise, this satirical scene makes fun of the idea that upper-class individuals like Pellinore and Grummore are somehow elevated above ever acting in a debased or embarrassing way. Their absurd competition gives insight into how so much of their position in society boils down to posturing and ridiculous disagreements. In this way, their elevated titles seem to mean little in the face of their markedly foolish interaction.
Similar to the pike in the moat, the hawks display a belief in the importance of showing strength. However, unlike the pike, their emphasis on it appears to be more driven by conformity to codes and standards. They do not ask that Wart enact violence, but merely answer some questions and stand beside the imposing Cully for three rings of a bell. Here, strength is shown as a virtue in the rigid world of the hawks, which Wart must display in order to get their respect. While the book complicates this idea elsewhere, in this scene Wart learns the importance of being able to appear brave and courageous in moments like this, as another part of being a good ruler.
